Stacy Keach heads to 1600 Penn

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Keach will play Senator Thoroughgood, a wheelchair-bound, racist, sexist, bigoted senator who is being honored for 50 years of service in the Senate.

Bill Pullman will star in the series as the president, who is described as an ordinary guy who happens to be president. Jenna Elfman will play the first lady. Josh Gad from Broadway's the Book of Mormon will play the president's lovable idiot son Skip Gilchrist.

Keach has appeared on Lights Out, The Bourne Legacy, Prison Break and the miniseries Hemmingway. He was nominated for an Emmy for Hemmingway and won a Golden Glove.

That sounds like a pretty solid start. Elfman can be a bit much, but I haven't seen her in anything in quite a while. And Pullman has a solid history of playing the president (Independence Day).

The series seems topical as well. If you were going to launch a show like this, midseason is the best time, in my opinion. Everyone will be coming down from their election fever and this show could slide right in to that hole in America's hearts.